Carl Washburne State Park – Campground

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93111 Highway 101 North Florence, OR 97439

October 12-15, 2015 – 50 full hookup sites (50 amp electric), 5 sites with water/electric only. All sites have picnic tables and fire rings with cooking grate; flush toilets/showers, RV dump station across the road in day use area.

When I saw the Beach Scenes here, that was enough to make me want to stay at the campground for easy access anytime I wanted.

After entering the campground from Hwy. 101 and passing the kiosk with registration info (first camp host is here, also) here is the fork in the road with tent sites to the right (sign says No RV Turnaround), and the way to both A & B Loops to the left.

Site A-7 is on the right (second camp host). Firewood can be purchased at both camp hosts.

Approaching fork in the road – Site A-18 on the right with the road next to it going to Sites 19-29 in A Loop.

Shower – Restrooms building straight ahead. Site B-30 is the first site seen on the left and is ADA accessible (shown better below).

Following the road around to more sites in the A Loop, there is a slight hill with Sites 22-27 on the left (no sites on the right, so views are totally wooded).

Almost to the end of A Loop, Site A-27 on the left.

Back to the B Loop, Site B-30 is an ADA accessible site. The sign says “Reserved – Open after 7 p.m. if all other sites rented.”

Here I am all set up in Site B-32. This 50′ long site had plenty enough room for my 35′ motorhome and tow car. I really liked how much space I had here between the neighboring sites on either side.

A little further along is Site B-40, one of the few electric/water only sites.

Site B-42 is adjacent to the easy 1/2 mile path to the beach. Although you can drive across the road to the Day Use area to access the beach, I recommend not missing this walk – it’s one of the prettiest paths I’ve ever been on with a fantastic destination! See my pictures on my Beach page.

Site B-57, the last site in Loop B, is shown here on the right.

Pros/Cons:

I always do short recaps of pros and cons about the parks I visit. I realize this is subjective stuff and what bothers some people, others won’t have a problem with, and vice versa. As a fulltime RVer, I like things that weekend campers can do without. But based on my own observations and/or comments from others, here goes:

Pros:

50 amp full hookups in a scenic state park – in my opinion, the best of all worlds! If you really want to feel like you’re truly getting away from it all and like big private sites in a shady, woodsy setting, this is the place for you. A comment I heard from one of the campers here, “This is camping like it was meant to be – leave all that technology at home.”

Very quiet and dark at night; however a bonus is that you can hear the pounding of the surf sometimes even though the campground is across the road from the beach. I never heard any road noise and had my bedroom window open at night.

The roads were well maintained and trees trimmed alongside so that I never felt crowded or heard that dreaded tree limb scrape against the side of my motorhome.

China Creek meanders through the campground, and I heard elk have sometimes wandered through. I also heard the wild rhododendron all around here are really beautiful when the bloom in the spring.

Cons:

No internet coverage or cell phone signal at all from within the campground.

Satellite TV: I have a rooftop dish with DirecTV and it was so heavily treed around me, I could get no signal. I did hear from some that more portable dishes can be maneuvered around the trees in some cases, but even that is iffy.

Internet/Wi-Fi/Cell Phone: No wi-fi, and as noted above, no internet or cell phone service from within the campground. I have Verizon Jetpack and didn’t even get a blip of a signal, so I didn’t bother trying to set up my big Wilson booster antenna since there didn’t seem to be anything to boost. Other RVing friends who have stayed here and the camp hosts said they knew of no signal booster that ever worked here. Verizon works from the day use area across the road (3G), but AT&T customers told me they can’t get a signal there, either.

Malia’s 2 Cents: I knew the biggest negative for me before I got here was that there was no internet or cell phone signal. But I had heard about the beautiful beach and I wanted to check it out for myself. Although I really loved the magical-feel forest beauty of this campground and the wonderful path to the beach, I found myself with a sense of technology withdrawal after a few days.

Your Two Cents? The only way I know if the reviews and research I present are helpful to you is if I hear from you. I sure would appreciate your feedback in Comments below.